Before the last goodbye
by tennis-rox
Summary: ryoma should and wants to tell sakuno how he feels.but how? how will he pull himself together before the last goodbye? [one-shot] ryoma X sakuno


"Echizen! Hurry up and serve! You don't need that long to focus!" screamed an irritated Momoshiro.

Ryoma was quickly shaken out of his thoughts. How long had he been bouncing the ball? He pushed his thoughts out of his mind and served his unbeatable, unstoppable-

"Fault!" called the umpire firmly.

Twist serve? Ryoma stood there in shock, Momoshiro just looked annoyed. This was the first time his twist serve was ever…out. Momoshiro picked up the ball angrily.

"Echizen! Focus! What is wrong with you today?"

Momoshiro said harshly and tossed the ball back to Ryoma. Ryoma caught the ball and prepared for his second serve, but somehow, he still could not focus. He took a deep breath. _Forget about it, there's nothing you can do about it now anyway_. Ryoma thought, half angry, half heartbroken. He took in another breath and threw the ball into the air.

"Game to Momoshiro. The score reads 6-2" the umpire read out loud, a hint of disbelief in his tone of voice.

Hesitantly, Ryoma walked up to the net, his cap lowered so that he did not need to look at his hyper-active senpai. Momoshiro took a long time to reach the net and Ryoma knew that his senpai was shocked by his play. They shook hands and Ryoma walked off the court. He could hear whispers but he pretended not to notice, instead, he picked up his pace and headed to the locker room.

Ryoma opened the door to the locker room, no one was inside. Ryoma flicked on the lights and walked towards his tennis bag. He unzipped it and pulled out a towel. At the bottom right-hand corner of the towel, the words "Ryoma E." was stitched on. Ryoma ran his fingers over it. It was all so sudden. It was nothing he would have expected.

Flashback

_Ryoma walked casually through Seishun's school gate. There was a group of screaming girls waiting in the front of the school for him but Ryoma ignored them. Having his own fan club at first seemed rather flattering, now it was just annoying. He breezed past them, not uttering a single word to them or giving them a glance. _

_Ryoma continued to walk into his classroom, but something just didn't seem right. It was as if this morning was different from the last. It was as if something was missing. Ryoma shrugged it off at first, thinking he was just being paranoid. However, as the day dragged on, Ryoma felt even more and more uncomfortable. It was as if a part of his life had just suddenly vanished, he just could not place his finger on it. It was not until their class began that Ryoma finally found out what it was._

_It was half way through English lesson, when Ryoma looked at the empty seat next to him._

"_Where is she?" Ryoma asked himself silently._

_The final bell rang and Ryoma still had not found out why she was absent. He had wanted to ask Tomo-chan, but could not find a subtle way of asking her. Plus, every time he saw Tomoko, she had seemed to be upset, almost depressed over something, and that scared Ryoma as she was always perky._

_Ryoma walked, half dazed, out of his classroom. He was about to reach the locker room, when he saw her, standing right in front of him. She was not wearing her school uniform, her braids hung over shoulders as usual but she carried the same look as Tomoko on her face. This made Ryoma worried, even though he showed no sign of it._

_They stood there, silent at first, when Sakuno finally opened her mouth._

"_Ryoma-kun", started Sakuno, a sadness in her voice "How was your day?"_

"_It was average. Why weren't you in school today?" asked Ryoma curiously._

_Sakuno swallowed hard. There was a pause and Ryoma knew he was not going to like whatever she was going to say next, but his curiosity got the better of him._

End of flashback

Ryoma cursed his curiosity, even though he knew that things would have been much worse if he had never learnt of it at all. He ran his fingers over the stitches once more and he felt a pang in his heart. He could feel it, the feeling that he had felt earlier on.

"Ryoma-kun, I'm not going to be able to sit with you in class anymore and I won't be able to watch you play tennis anymore. I'm moving to Australia" Sakuno had practically said it all in one breath. It was hard for her, Ryoma could feel it, but she would never have known how much harder it was for him. She was trying to fight back the tears that were already forming in her eyes as she took a light blue towel out of her bag.

"I didn't know what to give you, Ryoma-kun, so I'm very sorry if this is a bad present"

Ryoma took the towel and found that his name was stitched at the bottom. He took a glance at Sakuno's fingers. They were pricked. Ryoma's heart took a plunge and he had to resist the temptation to show emotion. Instead, Ryoma forced out an emotionless "Arigato". This time, Sakuno could no longer hold back her tears, she quickly said goodbye to him and ran to find Tomoko.

Ryoma took a breath, his head was fighting hard against his heart, and not surprisingly, his heart was winning. He could no longer control his emotions. Ryoma quickly threw his racquet into his bag and left the locker room. He was just about to leave the school, when he saw Tomoko at the gate. Tomoko spotted him and ran over. She wore the same look as the one she has earlier, her lips parted and she spoke.

"Sakuno's leaving tonight"

"I know" Ryoma said coolly, even though his heart was breaking.

"Well then, I suggest you hurry up!" Tomoko's voice slightly raised.

"What do you mean?" Ryoma persisted

Tomoko raised her voice again "Go tell her how you feel!"

"But I don't feel anything. She's leaving, there's nothing I can do about it" Ryoma replied stubbornly.

Tomoko sighed. She knew that nothing she said could possibly get the stubborn mule to confess anything.

"Okay. Just don't make a decision you'll regret." Tomoko answered and walked away.

Ryoma just watched her. Tomoko always struck him as a girl who chose never to notice the feelings and thoughts of others, but even she could express sadness towards the situation.

Why was it so hard for him? Why was it so hard for him to just say the things that were in his mind? It took awhile, before finally, Ryoma gave in to his heart and walked towards Sakuno's house.

It was not a long walk and Ryoma reached it in a few minutes. There was a truck parked in front of her house. At this point, Ryoma was thinking of backing out, but when he saw Sakuno, he felt a strong pull and walked over to her. He could see the shock on her face when he was nearing.

"Ryoma-kun, why…why are you here?"

"Sakuno", Ryoma said, not knowing he had just called her by her name " I just wanted come by and…"

Ryoma stopped. His brain had abandoned him and his tongue was disobeying his orders. He wanted to tell her, how he felt. How she made him feel and everything. But he could not. The words just stopped coming.

"I wanted to tell you that…"

What was this? The words just kept slipping away. Ryoma could not take it anymore. If he could not say it, there must be another way to show her, to prove to her.

Not knowing what else to do, Ryoma slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her towards him. She was paralyzed and Ryoma preferred her this way. Before she could say anything, Ryoma quickly lowered his head and moved his lips to touch hers. It was light at first, but soon, it got deeper. He could feel Sakuno's body pressing against his, her arm was round his back and it gave Ryoma a tingly feeling. He pressed Sakuno even closer, maybe a little too tight, but he did not care. All that mattered was that she was in his arms, and Ryoma did not want anything to change. Ryoma had opened his mouth to grab some air, but Sakuno had stuck her tongue into his mouth. An immediate warmth filled his mouth and Ryoma chose to do nothing.

The kiss lasted only ten minutes but it felt like eternity to Ryoma.

"I'll miss you" Ryoma said, his arms still wrapped firmly around Sakuno's waist.

Sakuno blushed and Ryoma smiled. This was what he had longed for so long. Ryoma spent the rest of the hours with her. But soon, Sakuno had to leave.

Sakuno gave Ryoma a hug and Ryoma could feel his shoulder turn wet. He looked at Sakuno, her eyes were filled with tears. Ryoma looked at her sadly and gave her a tight squeeze. Then, he lightly pressed his lips against hers once more. Sakuno stopped tearing.

Ryoma smiled and watched as Sakuno got into the car. His heart gave out a little cry as he watched the car leave, but then he touched his lips. She could never leave him. No matter how far they were. Ryoma would never forget her. Or the joy that she brought to his life. He loved her. And he was glad that she finally knew it.


End file.
